Andrew Graham-Dixon embarks on his most ambitious journey yet, an exploration of the rich, exciting and diverse art history of the United States of America.
Listening activity:
Watch The Art of America. Episode 3 and fill in the gaps
1. Las Vegas is the world's largest, brightest, ______________ neon work of art.
2. In the new world of the 21st century America seems like a country in crisis, a nation that has lost its _____________.
3. The invention of the atom bomb brought about a new world order. From now on, the USA and the Soviet Union would be locked in a rival nuclear ____________________, each defining itself as hero nation with a mission to _______________ the enemy.
4. In Levittown, in Long Island, New York, in the 1940s and 1950s 17.500 houses were constructed in just four years. They were built from cheap affordable materials, and _______________ using a version of the same production-line process that Henry Ford had applied to the mass manufacture of automobiles.
5. But if Levittown's __________________ houses all looked the same, then so did the faces. Levittown rules explicitly _______________ any residents who were not of the ____________ race.
6. Beneath the surface, America was ___________________ desperate housewives, blacks, Hispanics, and many others whose fears and frustrations remained completely __________________.
7. In 1954 Jasper Johns settled in New York city and began to paint the ultimate symbol of American-ness: The ____________________. He painted subtle variations on it, but always ____________ the same familiar image.
8. What were Jasper Johns's flags? _______________ of patriotic fervour?
9. The Metropolitan Museum in New York houses Andrew's favourite of Johns's flags, painted in white and on a ____________.
10 When Johns first presented the flag pictures to the American public in the 1950s, he was extremely ______ about their meanings.
11. This picture is made of a collage of newsprint, a ____________ of ___________American voices, ______________ by this thick heavy layer of __________________ oil-paint.
12. Living in a homosexual relationship was not only illegal, but in an age of McCarthyite _____________, it could also get you branded as a dangerous _______________ subversive.
13. To be a fine, _______________ member of American society, you had to embrace all its values, above all, the freedom to shop.
14. Ad men exploited ______________ colours and graphic brand logos to repeat the mantra "You can never have too much".
15. Pop artists' work seemed just as ______________ as the goods piled high in the new shopping malls, but it _______________ a bitter aftertaste.
16. Claes Oldenburg made supersize, ____________ repulsive hamburgers out of stuffed cloth as if to lay bare the excesses provoked by the rise of fast food chains.
17. The dot matrix language of comics inspired the work of Roy Lichtenstein but always with an _______ sense that the modern world was simplifying human emotions to cartoon stereotypes.
18. James Rosenquist created vast canvases of collaged images, poster-bright impressions of the modern world, mimicking the vomitous __________ of America's ____________ jungle of signs.
KEY
1. Brashest. (Brash: too bright or too noisy in a way that is not attractive. E.g. It was real gold but it still looked brash and cheap.)
2. Swagger. (/ˈswæɡə/ a way of walking or behaving that seems too confident. E.g. She walked to the front of the class with a swagger.)
3. Stalemate. ( /ˈsteɪlmeɪt/ a disagreement or a situation in a competition in which neither side is able to win or make any progress. E.g. The talks ended in (a) stalemate. Proposals aimed at breaking (= ending) the political stalemate. The strike has once again reached stalemate.)
Vanquish. (to defeat somebody completely in a competition, war, etc. To conquer)
4. Assembled. ( Assemble: to fit together all the separate parts of something, for example a piece of furniture. E.g. The shelves are easy to assemble.)
5. Cookie-cutter. (n) an object used for cutting biscuits in a particular shape. (adj) Having no special characteristics; not original in any way. Sp. Hecho en serie. E.g. Handmade goods appeal to those who are tired of cookie-cutter products.)
Barred.
Bar: to ban or prevent somebody from doing something. Sp. Prohibir. E.g. The players are barred from drinking alcohol the night before a match.
Caucasian: /kɔːˈkeɪʒn/ a member of any of the races of people who have pale skin. E.g. The police are looking for a Caucasian male in his forties.
6. Teeming with. (Teem with: to be full of people, animals, etc. moving around. E.g. The streets were teeming with tourists. A river teeming with fish.)
Obscured. (Obscure: /əbˈskjʊə/ to make it difficult to see, hear or understand something. E.g. The view was obscured by fog. We mustn't let these minor details obscure the main issue. A shadow fell across her face, obscuring her expression.)
7. Stars and Stripes: the national flag of the United States.
Fetishising. (Fetishise: to spend too much time thinking about or doing something)
8. Outpourings. (Outpouring: / ˈaʊtpɔːrɪŋ/ a strong and sudden expression of feeling. E.g. spontaneous outpourings of praise)
9. Vast scale. (Vast: extremely large in area, size, amount, etc. E.g. a vast area of forest. A vast crowd. A vast amount of information. At dusk bats appear in vast numbers.)
10. Reticent. (/ ˈretɪsnt/ unwilling to tell people about things. Reserved. E.g. He was extremely reticent about his personal life.)
11. Babble. (/ˈbæbl/ the sound of many people speaking at the same time. Sp. Murmullo. E.g. a babble of voices)
Muffled: /ˈmʌfld/ not heard clearly because something is in the way that stops the sound from travelling easily. Sp. Apagado. E.g. muffled voices from the next room.
Muffled
Encaustic beeswax ( A paint consisting of pigment mixed with beeswax and fixed with heat after its application.)
12. Witch-hunts. (Witch-hunt: an attempt to find and punish people who hold opinions that are thought to be unacceptable or dangerous to society.)
Commie: an insulting way of referring to somebody that you think has ideas similar to those of communists or socialists, or who is a member of a communist or socialist party. Sp. Rojo.
13. Upstanding: behaving in a moral and honest way. Upright. Sp. Íntegro. E.g. an upstanding member of the community.
14. Hyperreal: involving or characterized by particularly realistic graphic representation.
15. Enticing: / ɪnˈtaɪsɪŋ/ something that is enticing is so attractive and interesting that you want to have it or know more about it. Sp. Tentador. E.g. The offer was too enticing to refuse. An enticing smell came from the kitchen. The idea of two weeks in the sun sounds very enticing.
Concealed. (Conceal: /kənˈsiːl/ to hide somebody/something. E.g. Tim could barely conceal his disappointment.)
16. Floppily. (Floppy: hanging or falling loosely; not hard and stiff. Sp. Blando. E.g. a floppy hat. The puppy's floppy ears)
17. Uneasy: feeling worried or unhappy about a particular situation, especially because you think that something bad or unpleasant may happen or because you are not sure that what you are doing is right. Sp. Inquieto. E.g. an uneasy laugh. His presence made her feel uneasy. She had an uneasy feeling that something terrible was going to happen. He was beginning to feel distinctly uneasy about their visit. She felt uneasy about leaving the children with them.
18. Splurge: /splɜːdʒ/ an act of spending a lot of money on something that you do not really need. Sp. Derroche.
Yowling. (Yowl: to make a long loud cry that sounds unhappy. E.g. Outside in the road, a cat yowled.)
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